Each day for the now twelve year old Benjamin seemed to drag on the same as the last. Wake up, clean father Louis's office, then the pews, and every other dusty item in this cathedral. He looked forward to Sundays though, they were far less boring and he had a bigger part to play in the cathedral on those days. He would light the candles for night services and help prepare the bread and small glasses of wine for communion. The boy had still not fully been indoctrinated into the church. Usually by now people would've made their first declaration of promising their self to the faith, but Father Louis had held Benjamin back. Unlike his more greedier churchmen, he was attempting to locate the boy's father, give the man a chance to reclaim his son since the mother had lost her opportunity five years ago. The most Father Louis could find was that the boy's mother was of Italian heritage, she had even worked with those of the papacy to some degree. The father found this peculiar since the woman, now identified as Flora Isabella Santiana, had admitted to not being a Christian woman. He also found it strange that her son's surname was French when Benjamin admitted he had lived in Italy his whole life till a few months before arriving in France. So, the father assumed that Ms. Santiana had francized her son's surname.
Truthfully though, Ben could care less about all this, he didn't care if he ever saw his father. He wanted to know where his mother was this entire time, he wanted to know why he had been abandoned here like this. Investigations were made about her whereabouts as well. Flora's former boss claimed he had never fired her, and that she had taken her last payment of livre in a hurry. Ben had also shown the father where he had been staying with his mother and the inn room had been emptied entirely. Ben's memory failed him when it came to the night he was abandoned as well. All he could recall was his mother coming home with his favorite sweets then he was waking up in a bed he had never been before.
...........
Benjamin was sat in one of the pews, the cleaning was finally done and he could relax for a moment. No services were to be held, just the occasional person coming to pray or do confession. The boy pushed his dark hair back, closing his eyes so he could find some momentary peace. But of course someone had to go and interrupt it. He felt the sharp swat of a hand hitting the back of his head. Benjamin jumped to his feet and glared back at the perpetrator. Sister Lynette, she was a young novice nun who had just recently earned the white of her hood. She was determined to earn the black, and this eagerness to rise had turned her once sweet personality into a bitter one. "Such laziness for a boy who has been provided for so fairly." Lynette scoffed.
Ben just stared back at her, an annoyed look very clearly on his face. "Yes, I'm so very lazy, I just cleaned the entire chapel area while you have been sitting around doing nothing."
"For your information I have been incredibly busy preparing this cathedral for service tomorrow. Do you not know how DIFFICULT..." she droned on about the same things she always did, duty, sacrifice, Benjamin not doing enough for god. Ben was going to nod off and think about other things, but he noticed something strange Between the pews something was shifting from the wall to the seats. At first it looked like a shakily moving shadow, but the more he focused, the more the figure became clear. A man, a strangely dressed one, long nails...
"HELLO? ARE YOU LISTENING?" Lynette finally managed to break through Ben's daze. The boy looked up, blinking a bit as he tried to collect himself.
"Did you not see that man moving in between the pews over there?" he asked with a soft voice.
"What man? That has nothing to do with what I'm telling you, Benjamin!" she huffed. "This is too much to deal with, just go to your own bed, I'm too tired to deal with this!!" Lynette said and turned her back to Ben.
Ben wasn't going to argue, he didn't want to stay a moment longer with Lynette and that freaky looking shadow. He made his way to the lodging area for people like him: abandoned children. He kicked his shoes off, pulled his hair down, and climbed into his bed. He didn't care about the service day tomorrow, sleep felt more worth it at this point than all the service stuff. He closed his eyes and soon the warm embrace of sleep took him.
................
